Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis(Willd.) A.Berger

Brazilian pricklypear

WFO wfo-0000570832 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. a Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-01 / obs. 140495628
Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, photographed by Patricio Cowper Coles
fig. b Patricio Cowper Coles, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 161125108
Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, photographed by RAP
fig. c RAP, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 89969924
Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. d Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169398987
Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. e Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 168258786
Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, photographed by Victor Farjalla Pontes
fig. f Victor Farjalla Pontes, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 145578879
Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, photographed by Lucho Msrtínez
fig. g Lucho Msrtínez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 76505194
Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, photographed by Patricio Cowper Coles
fig. h Patricio Cowper Coles, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 171178904

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 10 botanical countries

Regions where Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis is native: Argentina Northeast, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay Argentina NortheastBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralParaguayPeruUruguay
Native distribution of Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Uruguay URU

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 19 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Brasiliopuntia argentina (Griseb.) A.Berger
  • Brasiliopuntia bahiensis (Britton & Rose) A.Berger
  • Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis subsp. bahiensis (Britton & Rose) P.J.Braun & Esteves
  • Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis subsp. subacarpa (Rizzini & A.Mattos) P.J.Braun & Esteves
  • Brasiliopuntia neoargentina Backeb.
  • Brasiliopuntia subacarpa Rizzini & A.Mattos
  • Cactus arboreus Vell.
  • Cactus brasiliensis Willd.
  • Cactus heterocladus A.St.-Hil.
  • Cactus paradoxus Hornem.
  • Cereus paradoxus Steud.
  • Opuntia arborea (Vell.) Steud.
  • Opuntia argentina Griseb.
  • Opuntia bahiensis Britton & Rose
  • Opuntia brasiliensis (Willd.) Haw.
  • Opuntia brasiliensis subsp. bahiensis (Britton & Rose) P.J.Braun & Esteves
  • Opuntia brasiliensis subsp. subacarpa (Rizzini & A.Mattos) P.J.Braun & Esteves
  • Opuntia hieronymi Griseb.
  • Opuntia neoargentina (Backeb.) G.D.Rowley

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.